Clearer Writing: Dare to be Blue
November 11, 2008
Any idiot can write, and many do. The Internet is a literary soapbox open 24/7, after all and admission is free. (With all those words floating around in cyberspace, finding a good blog or an audience of non-Kool Aid drinkers can be tricky. 
) Good writers are never satisfied with status quo; they push the envelope and their skills everyday.
How can this be better? How can I draw the reader in? What can I cut? Is my writing clear enough, catchy enough, good enough?
Weeks ago I started a series on the 9 Steps to Clearer Writing, and got sidetracked. I pulled this stub of a post out last Friday and breathed a little life into it for today’s schedule. This is step 5 in the clear writing process.
Dare to be Blue
One of the saddest things in life is watching a person flounder in their own lack of self confidence. For one reason or another, they believe they are insignificant, unloved, unworthy. For many, the solution is to adapt the behaviors of another- one he or she views as having it all. In essence, they trade the unique body, mind, and spirit God created, for the shiny bauble dangling from another’s hand.
Some find the truth later on. Sadly, many never realize the smoke and mirrors of image are only illusions of happiness and success for the majority. We were not created to be cookie-cutter pictures of perfection.
“If you want your writing to be crystal clear, you need to shine like the Son.”
God equipped each of us with unique talents, quirks, and flaws; each one adding beauty to the whole. You will only find success once you embrace your uniqueness.
Dare to be blue when everyone else is yellow. The paint will always chip off and show your true color underneath when you try to imitate others.
Finding Your Voice
We all have people who influence us greatly. It’s human nature. We assimilate the behaviors of others into our own lives and grow from those experiences. (Even that abrasive guy at the desk next to you can serve as sandpaper to smooth out a few rough spots in your personality.) Being influenced by others is a good thing, as long as you find your own voice in the cacophony.
Marching to the beat of your own drummer creates a good rhythm for the song you were meant to sing. The greatest achievers in history were avant-garde by society’s standards. Jesus was considered a rabble-rouser and unconventional to the extreme.
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.”~ Romans 12:2
You matter.
You are loved just the way you are.
You are worthy of all the great things life has to offer.
Stop hiding behind the masks of others and let your strengths and flaws shine through in your writing. Imitating someone else’s style only muddles your own voice.
9 Steps to Clearer Writing: Cutting the Fat and Choosing Words Carefully
September 20, 2008
Big is Beautiful!
“Big is Beautiful!” may work for plus-sized underwear ads, but it fails miserably in the world of online writing. Clear, concise writing is best. You have 500 words or less to take your reader on a journey with a destination of your choosing.
The Challenge
Your goal is to transport readers from point A to point B in a manner that inspires them to continue following your lead. Most readers aren’t that picky, they’ll follow nearly anyone that piques their interest for a short time; the challenge is to keep their interest.
Step Three: Cutting the Fat
Cutting the fat is a painful process for many writers. Laboring over a creation only to trash your beloved words in a pile on the floor is unnatural. However, the trimmed up product is often a creation more beautiful and valuable than the first draft.
The Trimming Process
Cutting the fact begins with eliminating or revising any confusion in your writing.
- Take out any parts that do not move the reader toward the destination. If it is not related to your topic, get rid of it.
- Organize your thoughts to create a logical flow. (We mentioned these first two steps in Focus and Keep it Flowing.)
- Break up long paragraphs into smaller chunks of related information. This creates a little more white space and is easier on the eyes. It also allows readers to scan for information quickly before they decide to invest the time it takes to read an entire post.
- Replace flowery prose with powerful descriptions. Long-winded descriptions are nice for poetry and story telling, but are not a good fit for most online content.
Step Four: Choosing Words Carefully
If you are a writer, you already know that word choice can make all the difference. All writers have a love for words, and sometimes we have a difficult time choosing which words to romance for a post. One way to select the right words for a post begins with determining your tone for the piece. Let’s say you are writing a sample blog post for a website that sells lightning rods. What emotions underlie your post on lightning storms? Are you conveying wonder, fear, fascination, or fast and hard clinical facts?
Once you identify the tone of your writing, brainstorm words that express your thoughts and evoke the emotions behind your tone. For example, words such as sizzling, singeing, ear-splitting, ground shaking, hair raising, and white hot invoke images of a lightening storm that convey power and fascination. In contrast, charring, electrified, scorched, random, split-second, and life threatening convey an attitude of fear.
Once you have a word bank to draw from, you can replace dull or incongruent words with selections from your brainstorming list.
Focus, flow, and lean writing are essential elements of clearer writing. Next up in the Clearer Writing series: Originality. Stay tuned to learn how marching to the beat of a different drummer can be a good thing.
9 Steps to Clearer Writing: Keep it Flowing
September 10, 2008
“That has got to be one of stupidest movies I have ever seen.” My friend sat curled on the couch with half a snarl as the credits rolled for The Sixth Sense. “You would have had to have seen the whole thing to get it,” I explained. Coming in on the middle of a movie with a complex or fast-paced plot is never a good idea. Unless you start at the beginning, the end is a confusing disappointment.
Beginning Your Journey
We’ve all experienced a similar situation with a poorly plotted movie or book, or when someone spills the beans and tells you that the bomber is really the main character suffering from multiple personality disorder, right after you read the first chapter of Three by Ted Dekker. (Oops! If you haven’t read the story, it’s still well worth the read.) To continue with our Clearer Writing Steps, this same principal of logical flow holds true for your writing.
Your writing must have a destination (focus), but it also must have a means to get to that destination. Every article, blog post, or story is a journey. There are no short cuts and you must know where you are going. In order to write clearly, your writing must follow a logical flow.
Step Two:Keep It Flowing
Just as in the movies, your writing needs to have a clear cut beginning, middle, and end. Your beginning should captivate the reader’s attention and compel them to keep reading. Attention spans are short on the Web, and if your opening is dull, your readers move on.
Introduce Your Destination
Introducing your writing should ease the reader into the point you are trying to make, and if possible, present some kind of tension. This tension can be in the form of two opposing view points, a controversial statement, or a question posed to the reader. Tension is not an essential element for every piece, but it does help draw your readers in and keep them hanging on until the end.
Writing the Body: Digging Into Meat and Potatoes
The body of your article is the meat and potatoes of your writing. This area presents facts supporting your argument, informs the reader, or tells your tale. The body should be streamlined, just like a trip on the highway. This means every point should carry your reader closer to the destination. The scenic route may be great for a country drive, but it is not pleasant in writing. No one wants to read a meandering, winding story with no real destination.
Each paragraph has its own theme or point to make. Sentences should be short, as should each paragraph. Online content is not the same as a college thesis. Each idea should flow logically from one idea to the next, with transitioning sentences where necessary. Break the flow and you lose your reader.
Wrapping It Up: The Fortune Cookie of Writing
Clear writing also includes a conclusion. This does not mean that you can copy and paste your opening paragraph at the end of the piece. Repetitive facts are boring and not worth the time it takes to read them. One way to create a nice wrap up is to read each paragraph of your body and ask yourself what four words summarize each paragraph. I call this this the fortune cookie method. Each paragraph is condensed into a short and sweet Chinese proverb to be listed in your conclusion.
Keeping your writing flowing from beginning to end helps make your posts pleasant instead of painful to read. For clearer writing, hug the curves, check the map often, and put up a few roadsigns along the course to help others find their way.
9 Steps to Clearer Writing: Focus
September 5, 2008
Got Focus?
“I want my sexy!” screamed my four year old from the bathtub. I could hear his older brother patiently going through a list of possible words, other than sexy, that might placate the little guy. With each incorrect guess, duckie?, cookie?, Saltie?, wedgie?, the demand got louder and louder. I put a stop to the screaming by sliding open the shower door and explained to the toddler that demanding the same thing over and over, only louder, was not helpful. After a series of descriptive inquiries similar to a 20 questions game, I picked up a plastic Jet Ski from the toy basket and handed it to a now beaming child. Who knew that Jet Ski and sexy are the same things when you’re four?
Clear communication is elusive for many of us, even as adults. We each come to the table with different experiences and ideas that shape the way we communicate. Writing is no different. However, clear writing is crucial on the Web. Internet readers expect fast facts, clear communication, and instant entertainment- all within the first paragraph. Post unclear copy and you’ve lost the reader (a.k.a. the potential customer).
So begins our series on 9 steps to clearer writing. This nine part post will hopefully help new writers create better content and maybe give those seasoned veterans among us a refreshed perspective on clear communication.
Step ONE: Focus- Your Writing Foundation
Focus. A clear focus serves as the strong foundation for your writing. What is your article about? What idea are you conveying to your readers? When you lose your focus your writing tends to wander around aimlessly, resulting in confusion and frustration in your readers.
Finding a Goal
Each article, blog post, page of sales copy, or website content page should have an obvious goal. This goal may be to express an opinion, provide step-by-step directions, review historical facts, inform the reader, or entertain an audience.
Where to Start
Many professional copywriters recommend beginning with your title. You can revise the title once the article is finished, but having a brief summary of your writing helps keep you on track. Every sentence in the article should relate back to the subject of the title. If you need help writing better titles, you can visit CopyBlogger or ProBlogger for terrific tutorials.
Building a Framework
Keeping focus also requires a logical flow to your writing. Each piece should have an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. These three portions of your article need to be interesting, not repetitive. The introduction determines whether readers continue to the end of the page, the body should be easy to skim, and the rest of copy must support the conclusion.
Read Like a Visitor
One of my pet peeves is a professional writer that is too busy to read over their own work before posting. Taking a few minutes to read over a post eliminates 99% of errors in any content, as long as the reader has an adequate understanding of grammar and a good spell checker. Some writers recommend reading your wok out loud to help uncover any unclear or awkward phrasing. You should strive to read the content from the viewpoint of the reader, not the author.
Anything that does not related back to your title needs to go. Editing can seem like a brutal process, but pruning out the dead branches of redundant copy is essential to a healthy article.
Merriam-Webster defines focus as the center of activity, attraction, or attention; a point of concentration. Focus provides the solid foundation for your writing. Determine your purpose, set a goal, and build the framework for great content. Review what you’ve written before posting and don’t be afraid to edit out unfocused phrases. Focus provides clearer communication between you and your readers.
Next up in the clearer writing series is Keep it Flowing: Reaching Your Destination. See you soon!
